While never officially announced by Bethesda, rumours of an Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have been circling the proverbial dialogue pie since 2023, surfacing first via an alleged developer, then leaked court documents. Edwin wrote about its potential improvements to combat here, while noting that the same leaked documents also mentioned both a Fallout 3 remaster and Dishonored 3. This might well either prime you with a healthy dose of scepticism, or else have you running around the house shouting “Dishonored 3!” at your pets, as I do at least once a week.

As reported by Very Gary Computing, “noted insider” NatetheHate reckons this Oblivion remake is getting revealed “in the coming weeks’ – a claim they say they’ve corroborated. “Nate claims the game will likely release before June, while sources have told VGC it could arrive as soon as next month”.

It’s reportedly being developed by support n’ port studio Virtuous – who’ve worked on Dark Souls, Uncharted, and most recently Metal Gear Delta – and “fully remade” in UE5, with reworks to stamina, sneaking, blocking, archery, hit reactions, and the HUD.

The armoured elephant in the room here is, of course, Skyblivion – the full fan remake of Oblivion in Skyrim’s engine that’s still on track for a 2025 release date. It’s been in development since 2012, and the team pegged this year for likely release back in 2023. I’m being genuine when I say that the official Oblivion remaster rumours manifesting that year is likely a coincidence – the Skyblivion team have been in dialogue with Bethesda throughout development, so I doubt there’s any real tension there.

I do, however, feel that Bethesda could possibly show a bit more respect to their modding community here by not swooping in to steal Skyblivion’s thunder, even if I understand the business rationale behind not wanting to miss out on potential sales from players that already have a perfectly good modern Oblivion, thank you very much.